216 THE OCEAN. 
which effectually distinguish this island from our 
own, and fail not to remind us that we are beholding 
the gorgeousness of the tropics. The summits of 
the hills are clothed with magnificent forest-trees of 
strange forms and foliage; the graceful palms wave 
their feathery crowns against the deep-blue sky: 
leafless cacti, thick and cylindrical, project from the 
rocks, or take the shape of enormous candelabra: the 
great American aloe, with its thick and spiny leaves, 
shoots up its glorious head of yellow blossoms to the 
height of twenty feet: the clusters of golden fruit 
depend from the plantain and banana, whose gigantic 
fronds are cut by the winds into ragged segments; 
while the whole array is bound and matted together 
by strong rope-likg climbing plants, which, crossing 
each other in every direction, and twisting around the 
forest-trees, and around each other, like huge cables, 
present an immense net of vegetation, impenetrable 
except by the axe of the woodman. Tree-ferns, 
possessing all the grace and elegance of those with 
which we are familiar, but growing to a giant size, 
shoot up from the clefts of the rocks, or from the 
branches of the loftier trees, their rich brown stalks 
contrasting with the vivid green of their fan-shaped 
fronds. The sides of the hills are clothed with lux- 
uriant plantations of Indian corn, or the still more 
rich and beautiful sugar-cane; and here and there 
a walk of cocoa-trees is rendered conspicuous by the 
glowing scarlet blossoms of the coral trees, by whose 
shadow they are sheltered from the vertical sun. 
The coast is broken into numerous little bays and 
coves, some penetrating far into the island, like 
